


Tiny Fractures

by Inu_Sama



Category: Animal Kingdom (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Ruthless J, Slow To Update, Uncle/Nephew Incest, canonical character deaths, constructive feedback is welcome but hate will not be tolerated, mostly canon with a few changes because of character differences, smart J, the Cody family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-30 07:51:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14492277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inu_Sama/pseuds/Inu_Sama
Summary: J held the gun steady, finger resting parallel to the trigger. He knew this was a test, part of being ‘sussed out’ he supposed. But what they didn’t know is that he had been forced to do far worse than scare a bunch of cowards out of their boards.





	Tiny Fractures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Re-jigged it a little, rearranged some stuff, that kind of thing. Enjoy and don't forget to check out the multitude of other fics I have(though they're not animal kingdom) I have like 50+ others so...check 'em out!

“You look just like her.” Baz breathed, steadying himself on the kitchen counter. Jay fidgeted, uncomfortable with the amount of attention directed at him. 

He was never one to step into the spotlight, especially after Julia had taught him that he was too worthless to be noticed. 

She had only ever acknowledged him when she yelled or hit Jay or needed him to comfort her after she came crashing down. He hated his mother. 

So to hear that he looked just like her was an unpleasant stone in his gut. Jay knew it was meant to be a compliment, but these people--Jay’s uncles--didn’t know who she really was, what she turned into towards the end.

Smurf glanced at him and decided to spare the poor boy, slyly announcing that dinner was almost ready. 

“Baz, can you go set the table for me, please?” She asked, staring at him in a way that clearly meant he had no choice in the matter. Baz grumbled but pushed off the counter to do as asked. 

No one in their right mind refused someone like her, Jay could feel the danger lurking underneath her skin like electricity before lightning hit. 

Said woman slid a casual arm around his waist and led him to the kitchen island where a salad waited to be chopped and tossed into a bowl. 

She patted him on the back and left him to it, his task obvious and a much needed distraction from the ice settling in the tips of his fingers.

Another one of his ‘uncles’ chose that moment to come in from outside, dripping water all over the tile with a towel in his hand. It was the giant, Craig, if Jay remembered correctly. 

“Sup, little bro.” The man grinned at him, even as Smurf smacked him for ‘dragging the pool inside’. From what Jay gathered in the short time he had been here, the others treated Craig like an idiot that had no restraint. 

He could see that, but he also knew there was more to the man under the addiction. He was just as much a Cody as Smurf. 

And that was why he tried not to let his feelings about addiction cloud his judgement of the man. He didn’t deserve it like his mother did. They were different and he knew that. 

Jay just hoped that Craig could pull himself out of it before he was too far gone. He tried to return the gesture but he hardly felt his lips move, only a small quirk upwards to show for his efforts. 

He had never been good at showing emotions and as the years progressed he felt like his face was set in stone.

“Baby, go help your brother.” Smurf instructed, making her tallest bend down so she could plant a kiss on his cheek. Craig’s smile dimmed into something more genuine before his attention was taken elsewhere. 

Jay went back to chopping. He was always good at reading people, had to be if he was going to survive his mother and her mercurial moods. 

It saved him then and it would save him now, he was sure. The next to come in was Deran, the ‘baby’ of the family. 

He had the sense to dry himself off properly before stepping inside, pulling a shirt over his toned chest. His brother hadn’t bothered and remained shirtless despite the cooling air as it approached evening. 

He tried not to stare as blue eyes studied him with an air of poorly concealed hostility. Deran didn’t seem to like him much, Jay would guess he felt threatened. 

He had experience with those kinds of feelings being directed at him by his mum’s dealers, especially when they found out he wasn’t intimidated by them. 

That would always rile them up, which only told Jay that they were all bark and no bite if they were so insecure that a teenager could trip them up. In Deran’s case though, it made sense. Kind of. 

Jay was getting more attention from Smurf than the others and his uncle felt left out, like he was being slighted just by him living here. 

It made him feel like a shiny new toy she’d dropped the others for, or more accurately, a fresh piece of meat.  He didn’t know if the attention was a good or a bad thing yet, as it would come with both pros and cons. Either way it put him on edge. 

He’d never experienced such blatant demonstrations of affection before--no matter how insincere they were--and it was sending him for a loop. 

When dinner was ready, Smurf made him sit at the other head of the table, apparently usruping Baz’s usual seat which made the man cast a worried glance in Jay’s direction. 

He was right then, being in the sights of a tiger was never a good thing--whether she was your grandmother or not. Said woman smiled down the table at Jay, disguising her true nature with maternal warmth. 

‘ _ Scary...She’s a scary lady _ ’ Jay’s mind supplied as he sipped at his juice. 

“So, how are my babies doing? Anything exciting I should know about?” She asked, taking the time to meet every one of their gazes, knife absentmindedly slicing through a bit of steak. 

Craig was the first to speak, and true to his personality, he didn’t stop to swallow his food before he opened his mouth. 

“Deran and me saw this  _ huge  _ turtle when we went surfing this morning--it was like this big!” He exclaimed, holding his arms apart as far as he could like a child. 

While it amused Jay, he could sense the others were leaning more towards exasperation. Though Smurf was very good at not letting it show too much and Jay doubted Craig noticed, as he was already turned back to his food once he was done. 

“That’s great, baby. Maybe next time you can catch it for me and we can mount it on the wall, hmm?” Craig smiled and nodded, though Jay could see it didn’t quite reach his eyes like before. 

Jay stared at him, trying to figure out what had changed. Was he disappointed about being asked to kill the creature? Or could he tell that Smurf was just patronising him? For all he knew, it could be both. 

He was trying to gather as much information on the family dynamics as he could--he didn’t really know what for exactly, it was mostly just instinct. 

But he figured it could only help him in the future. He’d already deduced that Baz didn’t like Smurf and likely butted heads with her as much as he could. 

He didn’t like her being in charge, for what though? Jay took an educated guess that it was the 'family business'. 

His mother had talked about ‘the good old days’ more than once in a drunken rant and how controlling the woman opposite him could be. Probably without meaning to, Julia had prepared her son for life with the Codys. 

Granted, the information was seventeen years out of date, but some of it still seemed to be valid as far as he could see. 

But it was only his first night here, he would have plenty of time to...  _ adjust  _ to his new life with them. He was pulled out of his thoughts when all eyes turned on him. 

“Sorry, what?” He asked, pressing his lips into an embarrassed line. Smurf smiled patiently at him as she stabbed a potato with her fork. 

“I was just wondering if you were alright, you looked a little pale.” She said with a concerned frown. Jay’s eyes narrowed slightly, thinking quick. Maybe he could use this somehow. 

If he dropped some blood in the water, who would get hungry and who would actually be concerned? He swallowed thickly and put down his knife and fork, his dinner mostly eaten as he reached for his glass of juice. 

“Yeah--I just--I guess everything’s just catching up with me, you know?” He spoke, making his voice waver slightly--enough to be picked up on by the others at least. He carefully watched his uncles for their reaction.

He had pretty much figured the Cody matriarch out, but his uncles were a little different. His mother hadn’t spoken of them quite as much or as strongly as she did her own mother. 

Baz seemed to be most affected by the reference to Julia’s death as his eyes softened in sympathy. Deran remained unaffected, ignoring Jay completely with an ease that spoke of years of practice and a lot of spite. 

Craig’s lips pressed into a grim line but there was no other indication of his feelings on losing his only sister. 

Though he was watching his uncles, he didn’t miss the flash of pride that crossed his grandmother’s aged face, too hyper aware of his surroundings - a habit that was as natural as breathing to him by now. 

It was no surprise to him that she'd seen through it. The others weren't as sharp apparently - or they just didn't care as much.

Baz stood up, wiping his mouth with a napkin before smiling at Jay slightly. Jay tried to return it, only to have the same results as before with Craig.  _ Dammit! _

He sometimes hated the fact that it was so damn hard for him to show emotions, to show weakness. Even if it wasn’t real and he didn’t feel like smiling, he knew it put people at ease more than the coldness he probably radiated.

“Maybe you should get some rest, come on, I’ll show you where your room is.” Baz offered, waiting until Jay excused himself from the table before walking down the hallway to the bedrooms. 

Baz seemed to be the most friendly of them, the most mature, understanding. But Jay wouldn't let that fool him, his mother had been a brilliant actor too, when she wanted something. He just had to find out what.

 

* * *

School was still the haven Jay remembered it to be, even if he didn’t need it as much as he once did. 

“Hey Jayjay!” Nicky chirped, bouncing over to his table at the back of the library to drop a kiss on his forehead. 

Jay fought the urge to wipe away the phantom feeling her lips left behind and instead focussed back on his homework, feeling irritation bubble up inside him as she just _ kept talking _ . 

“You know doing things like that is why everyone thinks we’re dating, right?” He grumbled once she took a breath, swatting away her hands as she attempted to ‘fix’ his hair. 

This was an old argument, one that with every passing year he had less and less hope of winning. She just smiled and pulled out her own work, no doubt for him to ‘help’ her with. 

Her manic energy told him that she found a new dealer, one that was willing to sell to a minor. 

Disgust filled him. After how his mother treated him when she was alive, no one would be able to blame him for the way he reacted to other drug addicts. Though to his dismay he seemed to attract them like moths to a flame. 

Craig didn’t count, of course. He was different, he didn’t know how he knew that, but he did. And he’d always trusted his instincts. If he played his cards right, he knew that Craig could be a very loyal ally in the future. 

His thoughts were interrupted when the girl next to him decided to speak again. 

“Well, if that’s the only way I get to keep you all to myself then so be it, honeybuns!” He hated nicknames like that and she knew it. 

Jay sighed and resigned himself to dealing with her  _ mood _ , it was almost the end of the school day anyway. He could wiggle his way out of her clutches then, most likely with some bullshit excuse. She wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box, after all. 

“What did you get for part three?” she asked immediately, the math homework they had been assigned last week was under her waiting pencil. It was due first thing tomorrow. 

Jay could feel a headache coming on, but ignored it in favour of answering her question. 

“33.” he said, looking back to the essay he was writing for English on the motivations behind civil wars and their outcomes. 

He was almost done, even though Mr Ashby gave them the rest of the week to complete it. Jay liked to get all his work out of the way as soon as possible at school - a habit left over from the time when there was no guarantee he would be able to keep it from getting damaged or otherwise taken from him. 

Julia never liked the reminders that he was still a kid, still  _ her  _ kid. To her he was just the guy that looked after her in her down moments, someone to use as a punching bag when she needed it. She had been by no means maternal - didn’t even bother to pretend like his grandmother does. 

Though he had yet to decide which was more dangerous, Jay was leaning more towards Smurf as her method seemed to be designed to lure him into a false sense of security when she was around, making him easier to manipulate. 

It might have worked too, if he had turned out different under his mother’s harsh parenting. But he wasn’t weak, he knew that much, no matter how many times Julia tried to make him believe different.

Nicky hummed happily and wrote down the answer, once again bringing him out of his increasingly dark thoughts and urged him onto the next. 

“And this one?” she asked, looking up at him expectantly. It went on like that until the bell rang and their free period was over. 

Jay thanked whatever deity was responsible because he had Art next and Nicky dropped that class a few months ago on the principle that it was useless and she didn’t need it. 

She wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps and be in the navy, something that she thought would be easy because of her father’s influence. 

Jay doubted she would be let in with her history of drug abuse and regularly shirking her responsibilities, Lieutenant father or not. He couldn’t say that though, he would never hear the end of it. 

Jay got up, gathering his things before he could be dragged into ditching class with her. Unlike her, he actually cared about graduating. It would get him one step closer to making something of himself. 

“See you tomorrow, Nicky.” he said maybe a little too gleefully and left before she could say anything back, ignoring her pout. 

Art was something he neither enjoyed nor hated, to be honest. He did have to admit that it was cathartic if nothing else. 

He settled down into his favourite spot near the window and waited for the teacher to arrive. Someone a lot younger than Mrs Benson walked in at the last minute, looking like she had just rolled out of bed. 

“Sorry I’m late, I’m your substitute for the next few weeks.” The slip of a woman said, dumping her bag on the teacher’s desk and stood in front of the class as she smoothed down her skirt. After a few awkward minutes, one of the girls in front of him raised her hand, Angela, he thought her name was. 

“Um, who are you?” She asked with just a little bit of exasperation colouring her tone and the new teacher blushed and started babbling, completely flustered that she had forgotten something so basic. 

All Jay could get was that her name was Miss Anderson and she was new to the whole ‘teaching’ thing.  Which didn’t instill any confidence in Jay that he would be learning anything from her. At least anything useful.  By useful he meant something that wasn’t her life story, which she was telling them in some long-winded form of an introduction. 

He instantly disliked her, and it wasn’t just because of what he could foresee of her teaching abilities - she stank of something cowardly. 

She was too jumpy, too wired like he would sometimes see in his mother when she was in withdrawal. 

His earlier thought about attracting druggies was starting to sound less and less dramatic the more the woman talked. She carefully never mentioned any sort of struggle with addiction and only prattled on about the more boring details of her life. 

Another student, a boy he didn’t know the name of, called out instead of raising his hand. 

“Miss Anderson, we don't have a lot of time left, what will we be doing today?” Jay could hear the undercurrent of frustration he felt, but wasn’t surprised the other boy held it back. 

In this school you couldn’t speak out against a teacher without heavy consequences. You had to be polite at all times, even if the opposite was warranted. The principal was very clear about that. She refused to have her ‘tight ship’ in disarray.

Miss Anderson chuckled nervously and handed out a quiz that was a few pages long and sat behind her desk to read. 

“If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.” She chirped with false enthusiasm, and for the rest of the hour the class was silent as a grave. 

Jay easily finished his and waited for the bell to go, this was the last class of the day and he was eager to go home. He paused at that thought, surprised that he was already thinking of that place as  _ home _ . 

Did it feel like home? 

He’d never really had a home, never felt welcome before. But he supposed he was with Smurf’s... ‘affection’ and his uncles’...not quite indifference, not quite hostility but more  _ curiosity _ . 

 

Craig was waiting for him when school finally let out for the day, Deran hanging out the truck's passenger window. 

“Get in loser, we’re going surfing.” He called, and Jay could feel his lips curl in amusement at the reference. 

He'd watched that movie once, when Nicky dragged him over to her place to binge-watch all those 90's/early 2000's teen movies.  She'd decided to 'educate' him on the art of girls, determined to uncover why he hadn't had a girlfriend in all the years she'd known him.  He didn't feel like telling her the real reason her 'subtle' advances had all failed, so he humoured her.

Deran was surprised Jay understood the reference and then a light blush dusted his tan cheeks and he sunk back into the passenger seat, embarrassed. 

He didn't think any other guys would risk their 'masculinity' by watching something like  _ Mean Girls _ , let alone remember anything about it. 

He didn't know why he'd said it, but it had just come so naturally to him that he'd done it without thinking and now the kid knew he'd watched something as mundane as a 'chick flick'.

Jay unlocked his bike and threw it into the back, jumping in behind it to sit on the bench there. He could do with a surf after the week he’s had. 

They met Baz at the beach and Jay watched him pick up a Latina girl and twirl her around before setting her back on the sand, planting a kiss to her forehead.

"That's Lina, Baz's daughter, and that smokin' hot woman is her mother." Craig whispered into his ear cheerily, slinging a much larger arm around Jay's shoulders. 

He could admit that the woman who greeted them with a strained smile as she prepared her daughter a drink, was aesthetically pleasing to look at. But he wouldn't use the words 'smokin hot', especially with such a lecherous tone of voice.

But that was just him.

Surfing with his uncles was not as relaxing an experience as he'd hoped it would be. For one, Deran kept cutting off his path and seemed to be taking every opportunity to drown him. Jay wasn't a pussy though, and just ignored him, didn't let the asshole get under his skin.

Craig thought it was hilarious, calling his brother out on his bullshit saying he was just jealous Smurf wasn't wiping his ass as much. 

That, at least, redirected the blond's frustration away from Jay for a while and he made sure to mouth a quick 'thank you' to the giant when it wouldn't be seen by anyone else.

The man's eyes crinkled when he grinned, before taking off to avoid his brother's grasping hands, laughing.

Baz had stayed mostly out of the way of all of them, taking a few quiet waves before joining his family in the shallows to help teach his kid how to swim.

Jay was slightly jealous of that, of seeing something so domestic, so normal. He only knew how to swim because one of the older beach bums was nice enough to teach him when he saw such a small kid trying to teach himself.

He'd been eight at the time and had learned it was better to spend as much time outside the apartment as he could - which meant either the library or the beach as they were the only safe-ish places he knew in his shitty neighbourhood.

The man, Jeremy, had also taught him to surf and would take Jay surfing with his buddies on saturdays. Of course, that was before Julia had to skip town because she'd fallen into it with the wrong loan shark and he never saw Jeremy again.

To be honest, he was just lucky Julia had bothered to take him with her when she moved, she could have easily left him there on the street. He may have hated her, but at least he had a roof over his head during his childhood when he was still too little to properly take care of himself.

Craig, Deran and Jay were on their way back to the truck when they spotted the guys his uncles had been razzing earlier in the water. They were packing up their boards - expensive, well-made boards that could probably fetch for a nice hundred or so.

Because of this, Jay wasn't surprised when Deran went to the locked metal box on the bed of the truck while Craig leaned against the side, keeping track of their mark and blocking their view of what his brother was doing.

"We want those boards, you in?" the blond asked, a feral gleam in his eye that put Jay on edge as soon as he saw it. Without much thought, he nodded and barely blinked at the piece his uncle handed him with an almost disturbing casualness.

He should have known something was up because as soon as he had checked the clip and turned the safety off, both his uncles immediately backed behind him, letting him take the lead. He should have known, Jay was being thrown in the deep end with only a vague idea that he was in the water in the first place.

Regardless, Jay held the gun steady, finger resting parallel to the trigger. He knew this was a test, part of being ‘sussed out’ he supposed. But what they didn’t know is that he had been forced to do far worse than scare a bunch of cowards out of their ‘boards. 

He’d lost count how many times he’d had to fend off his mother’s dealers and lovers alike when she didn’t have what they wanted. 

So without hesitation, he pointed the loaded gun at the men and got their attention with a short 'Hey!', watching dispassionately as the group typically pissed themselves and tried to use the car as cover.

"Wh-what the hell do you want?! Look, I know we said some stuff out on the water - but that was just trash talk! We didn't mean anything by it!" One of them pleaded, hands raised. Jay could feel two sets of blue eyes boring into the sides of his face, but he ignored them.

"Drop the boards - all of them." He instructed with a hard tone, booking no room for argument. The men immediately scrambled to do what he asked, even if Jay could see the indignace in their faces behind the fear.

When the boards were dropped at the halfway point between their respective vehicles, the men backed away and just sort of stood there like dumbasses. 

Jay rolled his eyes, his aim never wavering - he'd made sure to keep the nose of the gun trained on at least one of them at all times during the exchange, just so they would know that one of their buddies was guaranteed to die if they tried to be heroes.

“Leave.” Jay commanded then, unknowingly sending the hairs on the back of his uncles’ necks to rise. To them he sounded like Smurf in that moment, the power, the authority. 

It made them realise he was a much bigger threat than they thought, just in a different way. This boy was the same breed as all the Cody’s before him, he had to be, with that kind of unwavering resolve. 

They knew he wouldn’t rat them out to the cops - which had been what they were most worried about when Smurf came home with the boy. But that was the  _ only  _ thing he wouldn’t do.

The poor guys immediately stumbled into the jeep and sped away, not wanting to find out if the kid was serious about pulling that trigger or not. 

After a few tense seconds of silence where they listened to the retreat of tires, Craig was the first to snap out of it and picked Jay up in a bear hug, spinning him around. He completely ignored the gun that his nephew still held tightly in his hand. 

The point was carefully positioned away from the man and he'd heard Jay click the safety back on the moment the wimps left so it was fine. 

“That was amazing, kid! You put the fuckin’ fear’o God in ‘em!” He laughed, twirling the kid around once more before setting him down again. 

He could tell how uncomfortable the contact made him and didn’t want to push his luck with this strange new addition to their family. All Craig knew, was that things were going to get real interesting from now on.

With an inaudible sigh, Jay held the gun out to Deran, handle first, aware of the eyes on him. It was as much as a deference as he would allow himself to show in order to sooth the man’s hostility towards him. 

He still refused to be cowed by it though and met familiar baby blues head on as his blond uncle took the offering and stowed it back in the truck. 

A hand thumped against his back and he involuntarily stiffened, but Baz made no comment on it, saying, “Good job, kid.” instead as he carried a duffle bag over to his own car, which was parked a few spots away. He hadn't heard the man come up behind him and he didn't know exactly how much he saw, but apparently it was enough. 

Jay looked around, but thankfully the kid and her mother were nowhere to be found - they were probably still packing up or something. A good thing too, as he didn't like the thought of traumatising his cousin after first meeting her.

Jay followed Deran into the truck, more than ready to go back, he was tired and wanted nothing more than to sleep. 

His nights were always restless, but being in a new place made his insomnia worse and he’d hardly gotten any sleep at all the night before. 

Craig was the last to get in as he was tasked with strapping the new boards into the bed of the truck. Jay felt something slot into place as they rode back to the house. 

He watched the way his uncles relaxed around him slightly and knew that he passed. He was a part of the family now - or at least not a liability. Jay idly wondered when they would feel safe enough around him to include him in the upcoming heist Baz was planning. 

Despite them trying to hide it, nothing could slip past him. He'd been around that world long enough to spot the signs. 


End file.
